As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Many information handling systems include devices for wireless communications. For example, laptop or other portable devices often include one or more wireless cards attached to one or more antennas. Wireless cards may provide for wireless communications via any number of different wireless communication protocols, e.g., wireless LAN (WLAN), wireless WAN (WWAN), Bluetooth, Ultra Wide-Band, etc. Recently, combo cards have been developed that embed multiple wireless standards on a single substrate (e.g., a printed circuit board).
Emerging mobile communication standards WLAN and WWAN products require greater use of primary and auxiliary antennas in support of increases in bandwidth and data rates. The legacy and current IEEE standards for WLAN required only a primary and auxiliary antenna. The emerging WLAN and WWAN standards such as WLAN IEEE 802.11n and WWAN EDGE and 4G radios now require a primary antenna, secondary antenna, and auxiliary antenna for higher bandwidth transmissions.
As a result of these emerging wireless standards and the growth of wireless combo cards, many developing products require three, four, five, or more antenna connections.
Wireless antenna cables in such technologies are typically configured as coaxial cables. Such antenna cables are typically connected to wireless cards using individual press-fit micro connectors. FIG. 1 illustrates a system for connecting a wireless antenna apparatus 10 to a wireless card 12 using existing techniques. Antenna apparatus 10 includes a pair of transmitting/receiving surfaces 14a and 14b and a pair of coaxial wires 16a and 16b leading from surfaces 14a and 14b, each coaxial wire terminating in a connector 20. Wireless card 12 includes various electronic components 22 (e.g., silicon chips, transistors, resistors, etc.) and a pair of connectors 24. Other wireless cards, e.g., certain WLAN cards or combo cards, may have more than two connectors 24.
Coaxial wires 16a and 16b are typically connected to wireless card 12 by manually press-fitting each connector 20 onto a corresponding connector 24 on card 12. Each manual wire-to-card connection is made separately, which may be manually intensive, particularly for cards 12 having three, four, or more connectors 20 to be connected to antenna wires.